Buying property in the federal state of Carinthia

Carinthia is the southernmost Austrian federal state.

It's the fifth largest federal province in the country that is divided into eight rural districts including Feldkirchen, Hermagor, Klagenfurt-Land, Spittal an der Drau, Sankt Veit an der Glan, Villach-Land, Völkermarkt and Wolfsberg and has 132 municipalities. The capital of Carinthia is Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, the sixth-largest city in Austria that attracts students due to the University of Klagenfurt, the Gustav Mahler University of Music and the Carinthian University of Applied Sciences. The second statutory city is Villach.

The region borders the states of Salzburg, Styria and East Tyrol, and the Carnic Alps and the Karawanks form a border with Italy and Slovenia.

The drive from Klagenfurt am Wörthersee to Venice will take about 4 hours while the road to the Slovenian capital Ljubljana can be reached in just 1.5 hours.

Among the most well-known 1,270 lakes are Wörthersee (Lake Wörth), Millstätter See (Lake Millstatt), Ossiacher See (Lake Ossiach) and Faaker See (Lake Faak).

Visitors can also find 43 glaciers and 60 healing springs in Carinthia. Around 57.6% of the federal state is covered by forests and the fauna of Carinthia has accounted for more than 150,000 animal species, with around 150 of them, endemic. Some examples are the Carinthian door snail and the Carinthian mountain cricket.

Carinthia has a humid continental climate and the highest average number of sunshine hours. In the summer, temperatures are around 20-25°C.

Winters may seem cold, but they are ideal for winter sports and can range anywhere from -6°C to 25°C but rarely below -13°C or above 30°C. Autumn and winter are usually characterized by fog, as it envelops the valleys, mountains and lakes, giving the scenery a mysterious appeal.